Classes in Victoria

You can Trick or Treat at Bon Macaron this year! This is just a quick post to let you know that tiny ghouls, princesses, tigers etc.—age 12 and under—can come in for a free macaron all day on October 31st, in any of our three locations in Victoria, Kitisilano and Granville Island. And adults in costume will be treated to an extra macaron with every 6 Pack they purchase! First come first serve—quantities are generous but not unlimited. Little critters must be accompanied by a grown up critter. Happy Haunting! We can’t wait to see some costumes :)

It’s a big day for us! We’re celebrating the opening of our brand new patisserie—located in Vancouver’s beautiful Kitsilano—with a little party… a little party that will feature free sampling of over 50 different kinds of macarons! If you’re in Vancouver this evening, please join as at 2823 West Broadway between 6pm and 10pm. It you can’t make it, score a few brownie points by tipping off friends and loved ones. :)

The Moss Street TD Art Gallery Paint-In is happening today! All that art takes us back to last fall, when this Mona Lisa macaron masterpiece graced our Broad St. patisserie window.

Macarons really are a very creative medium! There are the endless flavours, of course, but there are also endless possibilities for colour and embellishment. Decorating is always a really popular part of our Macaron Classes. The student below is painting a crimson detail on Peanut Butter and Jam Macarons—that she just finished making!

On that note, we seriously have to commend the blog Sugar & Cloth—founder Ashley Rose from Houston Texas does some amazing things with macarons, many of which involve edible food colour pens. Take, for example, these DIY Abstract Art Macarons, made with said pens. What a cool project to do with kids... or with any group friends... or on one's own with some good music and a glass of wine or two... Our Vanilla Macarons would make the perfect blank canvas :)

Enjoy the art today! And if you're passing through downtown, pop in and see us for some edible creativity.

One of our most popular macaron flavours is Earl Grey. And one of the reasons it's so delicious is that, as with all our macarons, we sought out the best ingredients. In this case, that means using the organic, fair trade Blue Sapphire Earl Grey loose leaf tea that's blended in-house by Venus Sophia Tea Room & Vegetarian Eatery. We also make a custom macaron for Venus Sophia's popular afternoon teas, using their Afternoon Tea Blend! Working with the community—and with other local businesses who care about quality as much as we do—has been a priority for us since day one, and the result of this partnership has been some truly lovely macarons. We popped into their tea room, which is in China Town, to talk to Venus Sophia's Sallie El Alaily.

Sallie On Tea & Macarons

"I’ve always loved teas; I was always into very high quality teas. So of course I had to bring that into my own business and that’s given me a huge opportunity to really take things to the next level. I have the pleasure of working with the finest suppliers and tea gardens and I've tasted hundreds of teas over the years, which allows me to carefully select the best teas, herbs and botanicals for our tea line. And it never stops. I'm also studying to be a certified tea sommelier while running our business, it brings me so much joy.

"We change our Afternoon Tea seasonally—summer, spring, fall, and winter—we always try to keep it fresh and different. It popped into my head that we just had to have a macaron on our afternoon tea menu. Alain, my husband and business partner, is in charge of the kitchen at Venus Sophia and his hands are full with our extensive vegetarian menu and afternoon tea sandwiches and treats. So we both thought it would be a great idea to collaborate with a local bakery! While looking around town another bakery recommended Bon Macaron—they were pretty new at the time. At first I was using different macarons from their selection and that was great. But then one day an idea again popped into my mind: 'I want my own Venus Sophia macaron!' And I got what I wanted. [laughs] And I’m very happy. It’s great. It’s a beautiful colour. Our customers love it. I love it."

On Her Blue Sapphire Earl Grey Tea

"When I was creating the tea I was thinking of a kind of affordable luxury. I’ve always liked jewels and Venus Sophia is all about beauty. I came up with the name and then I thought, 'How do I make that work?' The blue cornflowers we blend in are very much like a sapphire blue. It just adds beauty to the whole tea experience. And it’s not just drinking the tea—when you’re brewing loose tea you get to scoop it out of the tin, etc. It’s the whole process. Those cornflowers also come from a farm very close to the tea garden in Sri Lanka where the this tea comes from, and that was a great connection."

On Her Afternoon Tea Blend

"Sometimes I’ll be walking somewhere and something just inspires me, like a certain mood or a feeling, and I think, 'I want that in a tea'. For the Afternoon Tea Blend, which Bon Macaron uses to make our Venus Sophia custom macaron, it was an expression of my love for afternoon tea, and specifically afternoon tea at Venus Sophia. It’s flowery and elegant, distinctive but not too strong. I always like to blend with herb and florals. I just love those. They’re perfume-y and wonderful and good for you."

Class Is In Session

Fun fact: we often teach afternoon macaron classes! We always have such a great time, and this past Saturday was no exception. Everyone gets to pick his or her favourite flavour—in this class we made Earl Grey, Peanut Butter and Jam, Black Forest, Lavender, Pistachio, Strawberry and Champagne, Coffee, andNutella, and all the 'students' got to go home with big mix of all of them (over 30 macarons each!) School should always be like this: tiny class size and loads of delicious 'homework' :) These girls were total macaron pros by the end of the afternoon—top marks!!

Have a look through the photos! If it seems like something you think you'd enjoy, check our site regularly! We hold classes throughout the year.

Happy Macaron Day! It's the 20th anniversary of Macaron Day—which started in Paris in 1995—and this year was especially great because we celebrated with Children's Health Foundation of Vancouver Island, a charity that raises funds to support the health of children and youth on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. Our flavour of the week is Tutti Frutti. We sold 150 of these specially decorated macarons today, and 100% of the proceeds were donated to the foundation. It was a fun, hectic, fantastic day and we're so pleased to have had the opportunity to work with this wonderful organisation. Thanks so much to everyone who had a chance to come in. We've shared some moments from the day below!

Bonjour! Welcome to the Bon Macaron Blog. This is where we share our love for "Food Things & French Things"—things we think you might enjoy!